La Boheme
by KilroyWasHere
Summary: An introspective into the reasons Charles Force changed his name and why he decided to call his daughter Mimi. Oneshot look at the Blue Bloods characters of Charles, Trinity, Mimi, and Jack Force and Allegra van Alen.
1. Chapter 1

**Melissa de la Cruz and ****Giacomo**** Puccini own**** everything. **

They were born on the worst day in Charles Force's 10,000+ years of living. When she came to him and said they were married, he thought his life would end. But this, this was much worse. Because, as she had proved so finely when she left him, marriage vows could be broken. And for the past two years he had held on to the hope that she would see the error in her ways and come back to him. Even as he watched impassively when she kissed Stephen. Even when he bowed to the will of the Coven and agreed to marry Trinity Burden, a fellow Blue Blood he barely knew and cared nothing for. Even when Trinity came to him seven months ago and told him that the tests were positive and she was pregnant. Even when three months ago at the same party that had made him a member of the Mayor's personal advisory staff she had come up to him and congratulated him on the impending birth of his son and daughter.

But this. This he could not take, for this ended all hope. He was tired beyond belief, his hair and suit rumpled from sitting up all night in the hospital with Trinity. Eighteen hours they had been there before she at last went into the final stages of labor. It figured that the Angels of Death and Destruction could not come quietly into the world. He was sitting in the ridiculous pastel waiting room in the maternity room of the hospital and thinking vaguely about having someone sacked for painting the room that particularly noxious shade of yellow; passing the time as he waited for the doctors to allow him back into the hospital nursery to see two babies he did not want and knew he would not love.

And then she came out. He was surprised but happy to see her at first, for he did not think she would be present at an event that should have been shared between the two of them instead of himself and the stranger who called herself his wife. "Thank you for coming." He said, rising quickly to his feet and coming forward to take her hand, greedily wanting those few seconds of physical contact no matter how brief or platonic they might be.

She looked puzzled for a moment, and a part of him knew then. But it wasn't until she spoke the words that he felt his world shatter. "Oh, Trinity went in to labor, did she? Have the babies been born yet?" Her words were too casual, and her tone too light. She backed away from him quickly, trying to walk around him.

"Why are you here?" He asked, his voice unnaturally harsh and clipped.

"I…" She stuttered, looking away from him, and he knew then because her hand reached down to cover her belly protectively, but he had to hear her say the words, refused to believe it until she said it.

"Why are you here, Allegra?" He asked, and now his voice was frighteningly calm and collected. He was scaring her, he could tell, but the small part of him that felt guilty was beaten down by the larger part of him that savagely said she deserved it.

"I…that is, Stephen and I--" He hated that name, so common and so human. "We…I found out today that I'm pregnant." She said, forcing the words out. He stared at her for a moment, frozen, then slowly released her hand and backed away from her. "Charles, please," she pleaded, trying to catch his hand. "Don't be like this, please don't. Don't hate me, Micha--" He roared with fury before she could say that name, and she turned and hurried out, tears falling from her eyes. He stood for several moments staring after her, his mind in a free fall, unable to process what he had just heard.

"Mr. van Alen?" The voice startled him and he whirled around to see an elderly nurse staring at him, clearly worried about his sanity. "The babies have been fed and cleaned, and your wife's asleep. Would you like to meet your children?" He wanted to shout that no, he would not like to meet his babies, in fact he would never like to see another baby again, but instead he nodded mutely and followed the nurse down the hall.

There was a large nursery that held all the newborns, probably more than 500 on any given day in such a large city as New York, but a separate room had been set aside for Charles and Trinity van Alen's private use. Charles walked in and looked pointedly at the two nurses until they scampered out the door, giving him a nasty look. It was against hospital policy to leave newborns alone without a member of the hospital staff present, but for the van Alens rules meant very little.

Charles barely spared Trinity a glance, looking impassively at her as she slumbered before walking over to the miniature crib that held his son and daughter. He peered down at them, and instead of the swell of fatherly pride he knew he should be feeling he wanted nothing so much as to throw them out the window. One of the babies stirred and opened its mouth, waving tiny fists in the air as its eyes blinked rapidly. He smiled before he caught himself. Of course his child would be a fighter. The movements of the first baby disturbed the second one, and it too opened its eyes, but simply stared at him in curiosity and passive interest. Although he told himself he didn't really want to know, he looked at the chart attached to the crib and learned that the first child was his son, and the second his daughter.

He looked at them and thought that as this age they were impossible to tell apart, both having the same soft blonde tufts of hair, small round faces with dimpled cheeks, and blue eyes streaked with green that Charles knew would soon turn completely green. They were incredibly helpless, Charles realized, and he almost laughed at the idea of two of the most dangerous Fallen Angels of all time being considered helpless. He continued to look at them, watching as the little boy continued to wave his fists and wiggle as best he could in the narrow confines of the crib and the girl continued to examine everything with a wide-eyed inquisitiveness.

Some of his earlier anger returned as he realized that all too soon another child would be brought into the world, ending any hope of his and Allegra's reunion. "It's partially your fault, you know," he told his son, glaring down at the tiny child. "If you didn't keep chasing after her like a love-sick puppy, maybe she wouldn't be tempted to run astray." He raised his hand over the boy, unsure if he wanted to hit him or stroke him, when a tiny fist shot out and closed around one of his fingers. He turned his head slightly in surprise to look at his daughter, who continued to maintain her iron grip on his finger, matching him stare for stare with her clear blue-green eyes.

"Why does it matter to you?" He asked her with a sigh. "You've suffered from his infidelities even more than I." She gave no reply but pulled his finger towards her face, looking disgruntled when she couldn't fit it in her mouth. He laughed lightly at that and his dark mood passed. He bent down and carefully lifted her into his arms, mindful of her head. She was so tiny he could hold her in one arm, but he used two as he gently rocked her back and forth. A part of him knew that he was trying to punish Abaddon by taking her away like Allegra had been taken by him, but his son did not seem to mind, only took advantage of the extra space to bang his fist on the crib. Thinking about Abaddon made him realize that he didn't know what they were called, at least in this lifetime, but when he bent while awkwardly holding the baby to look at the clipboard he realized the lines for their names were left blank.

"I've decided to call the boy Benjamin." He straightened quickly and almost dropped the baby as he spun to look at his suddenly awake wife. He re-adjusted his grip on his daughter, holding her more firmly so she wouldn't tumble out of his arms. "That was my father's name before he passed on in this cycle." He continued to stare at her, and her face grew worried. "I hope that's alright. We can call him something else if—"

"No, no, Benjamin's fine," he said, trying to regain his equilibrium. "Do you have a name for the girl yet?" She shook her head.

"No, I thought you might want to name her." The clear implication was that Trinity thought he might want to name his daughter Allegra or even Gabrielle, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind he savagely beat it away.

"Thank you. I'd like that very much." He did want to honor his sister or at least their bond in some way, but he did not think he would be able to stand having a constant reminder of her every single day in the form of a child who cared her name. So what else about Gabrielle could he use? Something that reminded him of her, something that made both of them happy, but something so subtle no one would guess his intent. He hummed a few bars of music to his daughter, and it came to him in a flash.

A memory hit him, a memory of a previous lifetime, less than 100 years ago. At Allegra's—then called Christiana—insistence, they'd gone to the theater while in Florence to see a new opera by well-known but little liked composer Giacomo Puccini. The opera was creating a stir, for it was not a lofty tale of princesses and knights and goddesses and heroes as operas traditionally were, but a contemporary tale, one of the only of its kind, which was set in the poor district of Bohemia. The characters were all painters and musicians, poor artists whose lives could not have been more different from the supercilious patrons who came to see their story performed.

To his surprise, Charles had not only liked the opera but found himself moved to tears as the curtain fell on the final act. Allegra, on the other hand, had been completely inconsolable and had cried the entire way back to the hotel in the cab. "It's just so beautiful," she kept saying. "He wrote his poetry for her but she could only hear it once before she died." For the next week she murmured the words of the final duet to herself and saw the opera six more times until she had the entire thing memorized. He would never forget her delight when, on their sixteenth birthday in this lifetime he had presented her with a record of her favorite opera, _La Boheme_.

"Ah, Mimi, mia bella Mimi. Amo Mimi, savra ogni cosa al mondo, il l'amo." Charles sang softly to the little girl in his arms, and he smiled sadly at her. "Do you know what that means, angel? In English Rodolfo is saying 'Mimi, my beautiful Mimi. I love Mimi, more than anything in the world I love her.'" That, he thought, would be a perfect way honor Allegra without revealing his intent. But he paused. Mimi was a common name, a name not fit for the Regis's daughter. And yet he wanted to name his child after Allegra's favorite character from the opera she loved more than anything.

"Madeleine." He said, trying out the name. That could be the name on her birth certificate, the name given when she was introduced to the Coven, but in his mind she would always be Mimi.

"That's a pretty name." Trinity murmured sleepily, and he turned to her. "We can come up with nicknames for both of them later." Charles nodded, content. He knew he would have no issue convincing Trinity to allow him to bestow a nickname on their daughter.

At that moment, the nurse came back into the room and walked briskly over to Charles, removing the baby from his arms. "Now stop that, you." She said to Benjamin, who had lain in the crib throughout the entire process, forgotten, not realizing or caring what important thoughts were running through his father's head. He started to cry in protest when the nurse wrapped his arms back in his blanket, but was cut short by a pacifier shoved in his mouth. He looked very surprised for a second, then sucked on it contentedly as he turned to look with interest at his sister who was laid next to him. "Have you decided on names yet?" the nurse asked them.

"Yes." Trinity said. "Our son will be called Benjamin Abaddon, and our daughter Madeleine Azrael." It was another ancient Blue Blood tradition that while a person's first and last name might change every lifetime, their middle name always remained as their true Angelic Name, as a reminder of where they came from. The nurse gave them an odd look as she registered the middle names, but knew better than to comment.

"Born at 6:24 and 6:31 respectively, on the evening of November the twenty ninth, 1985. Madeleine Azrael and Benjamin Abaddon van Alen—"

"No." Charles said sharply, stopping the nurse in the middle of writing down the children's names. He would never forget this day, a day of some of the best and definitively the worst memories of his life. He had to separate himself from her, somehow. He had to force it out of his mind, force himself to forget, force himself to move on. "Not van Alen. Force."

"Excuse me?" the nurse asked, looking from the surprised expression on Trinity's face to the resigned and bitter one on Charles'. "Are you not the father of the children?"

"I am. And I recently applied for a name change. My and my wife's last name is Force." Trinity was staring at him but dared not say anything as the nurse carefully crossed out what she'd started to write and began writing the names again.

"Madeleine Azrael Force and Benjamin Abaddon Force. Is that right?" Charles nodded tersely, and quickly turned away. The nurse wrote down the names then turned and walked briskly out of the room, taking the clipboard with her.

"Charles—" Trinity began hesitantly, but he turned and stalked out of the room, ignoring her and the babies. As he walked down the hall, her voice seemed to haunt him, singing the same words again and again.

_"Mi chiamono Mimi, il perche __non__ so. Il primo sole e mio. Il primo bacio dell'aprile e mio, che parlano d'amor, di primavera. Mi chiamono Mimi, il perche __non__ so.__"_

The next day, Charles van Alen walked into the mayor's office and quit his job, then quickly arranged for the mayor to be sacked. He began building up a media empire from the money he received from the former mayor to keep the scandals quiet. He called it Force News Network, and he used it to ruin the careers of anyone and everyone who knew of his former life. Charles van Alen, the kind, young, charismatic philanthropist and government worker was gone, and Charles Force, the cold, heartless and powerful media mogul was in his place.

**That was my attempt to explain how and why Charles changed his name from van Alen to Force, and where the name****s**** Madeleine and especially Mimi came from. (It never made sense to me that Mimi would be a nickname for Madeleine.) I don't have a good reason for Benjamin's (Jack's) name, if someone would like to write a companion piece to this fic explaining his name that would be wonderful. **

**I don't know what year the ****Force twins were born****, although at one point in **_**Masquerade **_**Bliss finds a picture of Allegra dated 1982, but to me this seemed a little too early. I also made up their birthday.**

**The words Charles remembers Allegra singing translate to "They call me Mimi, I don't know why. The first sunshine is mine; the first kiss of April is mine****, which**** speaks of love, of springtime. They call me Mimi, I don't know why." Those words come from the song **_**Mi Chiamomo Mimi**_**, while**** the earlier**** words come from the song **_**Sono Andati? Fingevo di dormire.**_** Both are from the opera **_**La Boheme**_**I played around with the order of the lyrics for my own purposes. ****For some thoughts on the character****s**** of Mimi ****and Schuyler****, check out the little blurb I placed in the second chapter. (This is a one shot story contained in one ****chapter;**** the second one is all my own thoughts. Check it out if you're interested.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Melissa de la Cruz owns Blue Bloods, Puccini owns La Boheme. **

_**Mimì è una civetta**__**che frascheggia con tutti.**__**Un moscardino di Viscontino**__**le fa l'occhio di triglia.**__**Ella sgonnella e scopre la caviglia**__**con un far promettente e lusinghier.**__****__**Ebbene, non lo son.**__**Invan, invan nascondo**__**la mia vera tortura.**__**Amo Mimì**__**sovra ogni cosa al mondo, io l'amo,**__**ma ho paura, ma ho paura!**_

These lyrics, from the song _Mimi E Una Civetta_, seem to perfectly summarize not just the character of Mimi in Puccini's _La Boheme_, but Melissa de la Cruz's snobby, bratty, fun-loving socialite Mimi in the _Blue Bloods_ series. Translated from Italian, the words are as follows:

Mimi is a coquette

Who flirts with everyone.

A dandy of a little Viscount

Makes lovesick eyes at her.

She lifts her skirts and shows her legs

In a most promising and provocative way.

All right then, no

In vain, in vain I hide it

My real anguish

I love Mimi

More than anything in the world

I love her

But I'm afraid, I'm afraid.

Mimi is simultaneously the most complex and more simplistic character in Blue Bloods. She is superfluous and catty, she fakes grief at a friend's death, and she is truly nasty to everyone around her. At the same time, she loves deeper and with more fidelity than any other character in the series. (It is important to keep in mind that liaisons with Red Bloods are not considered cheating in the Blue Blood canon.) She is fiercely protective of her brother and of the bond between them, and she accesses her full memories long before any other Blue Blood her age, which shows a level of power and maturity not demonstrated by Schuyler, Bliss, Jack, Dylan, or any other Blue Blood.

The revelation about Mimi's status as the Angel of Death adds another dimension to her character, but it explains more than it doesn't. Death is cold, final, impassive, and above all non-negotiable. So is Mimi. Many of the small incidents of cruelty and harshness that seem to be the basis of Mimi's character all tie in perfectly with her role as the Angel of Death. Death must be impartial, for everyone encounters it eventually, and there is no escape. Mimi is not so much deliberately cruel as devoid of the emotions necessary for compassion and empathy.

Another aspect of her character is her ability to strategize and execute elaborate plans and schemes with the precision of an army general. The house party at the Llewellyn's penthouse and the after-party in the old Synagogue are completely Mimi's in conception and implementation. She also takes complete control of hers and Jack's relationship, placing herself in the dominant role and Jack in the submissive role. Although Jack often likes to rebel against her and against the Blue Blood traditions, in the end he always—every single time, without fail—falls in line when she beckons. The same goes for Bliss Llewellyn, who often complains about Mimi's domineering nature to Schuyler, but never seems to do anything about her dissatisfaction.

Simply put, Mimi is the Alpha Female in her world and in the larger world of the Blue Blood society—even Trinity Force, her mother, bends to Mimi's will when ordered. It is precisely because of this Alpha Female status that Mimi has such difficulty with Schuyler van Alen, because Schuyler is also an Alpha. Although she is not as outgoing as Mimi, Schuyler is never afraid to assert herself and her opinions. Again, when ordered directly by Schuyler, Jack and also Oliver submit to her will every single time. Mimi sees her position, both as Jack's mate and as the leader of the younger generation of the Blue Bloods, challenged by Schuyler's very presence. She always wants to get rid of Schuyler—and Schuyler wants to rid herself of Mimi—because she recognizes her as the single greatest threat to her happiness and contentment.

The one scene in _Masquerade_ that makes absolutely no sense is the sequence where Schuyler decides to try and save Mimi and the actual Blood Ritual. The first ridiculous part is in Schuyler's initial refusal to even attempt to save Mimi. The defining component of Schuyler's character throughout both novels has been her absolute determination to find the truth, no matter the cost and no matter how ugly it might be. And yet when given the opportunity to discern the truth in an already shady situation, Schuyler shies away and gives the rather flimsy excuse that she won't do it because Mimi is an "awful person." This coming from the girl who was friends with a known juvenile delinquent and who always reaches out a helping hand to everyone, Blue Blood and Red Blood, because she knows it's the right thing to do. In the end, she agrees to help Mimi because a. the boy she has a crush on asks her to and b. she realizes that this is "not a game". Well, really! Did you figure that out during the trial, or when they were dragging her out in chains? This is not the high-minded morally sound Schuyler van Alen that we have been following and rooting for throughout the past two books.

What should set Schuyler apart from Mimi is her willingness to reach out—if the roles were reversed and Mimi was asked to perform the Blood Trial for Schuyler there is absolutely no question that she would refuse—and embrace others, both enemies and friends. She takes a risk with Dylan, and with Bliss, and with Lawrence, but when it comes to Mimi she suddenly turns childish and indecisive and backs her way out of it until the last possible minute.

Even more ridiculous than Schuyler's procrastinating is Mimi's reluctance to go through with the Blood Trial. She acts as if Schuyler is simply inconveniencing her with the ritual, but not even Mimi can be this shallow. She is about to die. Period. No second chances, no other options, if Schuyler can't prove her innocent she will burn to death and be erased from existence forever. Whatever her personal feelings about Schuyler, Mimi always does what is in the best interests for Mimi—hence the irony of her name. (Imagine a bratty little girl crying 'me, me!') And it is definitely within her best interests to submit to the Blood Trial. Does she need to thank Schuyler? No. Does she need to be friends with Schuyler? No. Does she even need to be nice to Schuyler? No, but it simply does not make sense for her to aggravate her further when it is a matter of life and death.

Mimi is a seemingly shallow character who has lots of hidden depth, probably only seen by the one person who even tries to understand her, her twin brother Jack. Unfortunately for Jack, he also understands Schuyler, and sees her as the sweeter side of Mimi's darkness—in many ways, Schuyler and Mimi are better twins than Jack and Mimi are. Mimi is dark, but her darkness is, as Jack says, a natural balance, for without black there can be no white, and without death no appreciation of life. Schuyler throws off the balance, for she brings slashes of light into an already balanced and precisely constructed world. Whomever Jack chooses, he will throw the carefully constructed Blue Blood universe off its axis—which is why, even though he is a traditionally submissive character, Jack Force holds the most power in his hands.

**Okay, I hope I didn't bore you too much with my thoughts. As a final note, let me encourage everyone to check out **_**La Boheme**_**, and its modern version, Jonathan Larson's **_**Rent. Rent**_** is a good introduction to **_**La Boheme**_**, but ultimately in my opinion **_**La Boheme**_** is the more powerful piece. **


End file.
